THE Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) last week lodged two major submissions addressing pharmacist remuneration.
The first was PSA's response to the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) Review Taskforce, where a number of proposals were presented to better use exisiting MBS services by harnessing fully the knowledge, skills and accessibility of pharmacists.
The second was a submission to the Fair Work Commission's (FWC) four yearly review of the Pharmacy Industry Award 2010, arguing that current remuneration should be increased to reflect accredited pharmacists' additional training, experience and responsibility.
The MBS submission commented primarily on the Taskforce's recommendations relating to chronic disease management items, medication management items and access to repeat scripts, as well as other recommendations where pharmacists' practice may impact on holistic care of patient.
The PSA said it welcomed two recommendations from the Taskforce: Recommendation 9: rebate participation in case conferencing for non-GP health professionals, and Recommendation 17 of the Allied Health Reference Group: allow non-dispensing pharmacists to access allied health items.
The FWC submission called for accredited pharmacists who are required to perform Residential Medication Management Reviews (RMMR) or Home Medicines Reviews (HMR) (and other future services) to be paid an extra 18% of the minimum weekly wage applicable to a pharmacist on top of their award rate.
See more at psa.org.au.
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